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Produced by the Highway Safety Foundation in 1964,
this shocking film deals with a subject quite taboo
for its time. The short serves as a dramatized warning,
ending with graphic case studies. Unlike the driver's education
films produced by the same company, this film was apparently
issued for only a short time before being withdrawn.
**CONTENT ADVISORY: Crime scene footage at end will upset some people**
This movie is part of the collection: Sci-Fi / Horror
Director: N/A
Producer: N/A
Production Company: Highway Safety Foundation
Sponsor: CFH3 Media, LTD.
Audio/Visual: 16mm sound, color
Keywords: educational; social issues; criminal
![[3.0 out of 5 stars]](/images/star.png "[3.0 out of 5 stars]")
Reviewer: mjesfo - - December 16, 2008
Subject: Unbelievable
I can't believe I finally came across this film that traumatized me for most of my 3rd grade year. It was 1977 and after the PTA viewed this film they decided the student body should see this film! I don't remember if 1st or 2nd graders were there but the 3rd graders sure were. We had already been subjected to a year or two of Patch the Pony, a cartoon character from a filmstrip who cautioned us, "Nay, nay from strangers stay away!" I guess they were afraid some of us still weren't getting it and they decided to drive the point home with "The Child Molester". I was absolutely terrorized by this movie. Already at the beginning of the film I am worried for the girls and recall I couldn't believe they fell for the oldest trick in the book:Candy from a stranger! I was mad at the old lady who witnessed the kidnapping and the girl who knew not to accept the candy from the stranger for not warning the girls and then spending her afternoon window shopping and daydreaming before she reports what she saw happen.
The thing about the crime scene that struck me the most after seeing it again is that I remembered the street being FILLED with blood-literally, TO THE CURB. Also, that the shoe floating down the stream at the end was actually floating in the girls' BLOOD. As a 9-year old I obviously could not properly process what I was seeing because I was totally TRAUMATIZED!
Our school was already doing a good job warning us to stay away from strangers but showing us this film was like taking care of a termite infestation with dynamite. I feigned illness for weeks so I wouldn't have to go outside at lunchtime. When they finally got me to go outside to the playground my eyes were constantly scanning the area for potential stranger infiltration. I didn't want to play outside at home, either and my Mom finally asked me what was the problem and I told her. That stupid film, "The Child Molester"! (She complained to the school and it was never shown to the students again.)
So, I am fascinated by this film because of the profound impact it had on my childhood and glad I finally got to see it again as an adult so I could put it in the proper perspective. Yes, the acting is terrible but the subject matter is serious and disturbing and it still impacts me as an adult.
Reviewer: 2muchtv - - October 24, 2008
Subject: Passion, misunderstanding and misinformation
While this item has certainly stirred the passions of reviewers, there is a fundamental misunderstanding that really should be addressed. This film was never intended to be viewed by children and, of course, should never have been shown to children. This film was produced as a cautionary tale for parents to be exhibited at PTA meetings, neighborhood safety groups (like today's block watches) and similar audiences.
The tragic misinformation here is that while molestation by strangers is certainly a very real danger, the US Department of Justice reports that strangers were the offender in just 3% of sexual assaults against victims under age 6 and 5% of the sexual assault of victimizations of youth ages 6 through 11.
In the vast majority of molestation cases, the victim knew or was related to the attacker. Learn more at the California Department of justice web page entitled www.meganslaw.ca.gov/facts.htm, Facts about Sex Offenders
Reviewer: kyrasdad - - September 27, 2008
Subject: amazing film
I find this film so amazing I hardly know where to begin. One thing I might say right off is: the ending is not the only place that can be potentially triggering. I found I could stomach the crime scene pretty well, but the part where the bad guy actually catches up with the girl and she screams her head off had me screaming, crying and retching.
My wife and I have taught our kids all these concepts emphatically, from an early age. While this film does harshly what I feel we did a little more gently, it is nonetheless one of the few examples of this correct and important principle: children can handle the truth and need to know enough to protect themselves. If 100 children feel traumatized by the film but one life is saved, that might not be such a bad deal.
I gave a high rating not so much for the quality of the film itself, but for its uniqueness, the importance of the topic and this historic film's miraculous availability.
Reviewer: ArchivesHistoryGenealogy - - September 24, 2008
Subject: Okaaaay...
Seen worse. Feel sorry for the victim, poor girl.
Reviewer: Bronx Boy - - July 11, 2008
Subject: That's kind of the point....
This film is a clear example of what ephemeral films were in the 60's. I didn't see it then, but watching now for the first time was quite shocking and disturbing. However there have been a lot of comments about the films message and dialog. IMHO if people are questioning the validity of the dialog - and it is homophobic - then they are missing the point as why this film is on this site. That is the whole reason why it's here - if it were well made and virtuous it would have been preserved for future generations of kids. This film is a great artifact of the time and reflects the arcane (and frankly distorted) views of the film's producers. Its a great piece of scare film history. IMHO if people are questioning the validity of the dialog - and it is homophobic - then they are missing the point as why this film is on this site. I guess I just love campy films like this one.
Reviewer: Campfire - - June 24, 2008
Subject: Stranger danger?
There's another side of this business of drilling it into our kids to be terrified of strangers. A couple of years ago in California three kids wandered off from a family campground and got lost in the woods. A massive search went on to no avail. It seems the kids had all been carefully taught to run in terror whenever a stranger spoke to them and that the whole world was evil and they needed to protect themselves from it at any cost. So whenever the searchers came near them, they did what they were trained to do around strangers--they ran and hid. They successfully managed to avoid their rescuers for a week, until they were so near death that they couldn't hide any more. Luckily they were found. A couple of hours later they would have died rather than talk to a stranger.
Reviewer: mycroft61 - - June 24, 2008
Subject: 3rd grade nightmare
I've had very disturbing is dreams about this movie for 40 years. It was also the first time I remember seeing adults outside my family cry. Everyone from the janitor to the lunch lady stood for over an hour after the end sobbing and staring that 1000 yard stare.
really bad idea to show that to 10 yr. olds with no warning or at least cut it short.
Reviewer: missyzu - - June 24, 2008
Subject: Stranger Danger
I remember seeing this fascinating video clip in around third or fourth grade, but I thought it was entitled "Stranger Danger." I can't believe this movie is still out there!! It always impacted me, especially at the end with the clips of the dead little girls eerily floating in the swamp, and the striking black and white footage. That's just something in my mind that I will never forget. I remember telling my mom about it but she didn't believe me and said "they wouldn't have ever let you kids watch something like that at school." (yeah, right mom). I let my daughter (9) watch it and explained to her that some people just like to hurt, touch, and even kill little kids--she's pretty tough, but I also think that it truly made her realize that not all people are truly nice in this world, no matter how "nice" they may seem, and will do or say anything to get you into their car. Yes, it was low grade and cheesy, but it definitely got the point across. Sometimes we need a memory like at the end of that video to sear an impression onto our souls to increase our awareness that child molestation/rape is serious business and there are definitely weirdos out there that actually get off on hurting our precious children (I personally think that people that can harm a child for kicks are demon possessed).
Reviewer: Cineramic - - May 5, 2008
Subject: POORLY MADE TRAUMATIZING EXPLOITATION CRIME FILM FOR KIDDIES
Stumbling upon this nightmarish little film on the internet sent shivers down my spine. I couldn't believe I was about to watch the movie that not only scared the hell out of me as a child, but altered my sleepy habits for years and changed the way I viewed the world up to that time. I was 7 years old when I first saw this film and I've never forgotten it. Strangely enough, even as an adult and 40 years later, I am still hesitant to watch it. Many people have a film that scared the wits out of them when they were young, whether it was the Wicked Witch in THE WIZARD OF OZ or the Child Catcher in CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG. For me, this 16mm flick WAS THE FILM!
I actually saw this poorly made exploitation "educational" kiddy instructional film on two occasions in elementary school. One time with the crime scene footage included and one time without. I was in the second grade in 1967 when CHILD MOLESTER was shown in the school cafeteria for grades 2 through 7. The lunchroom was packed. Like alot of films that where shown in the school auditorium (Disney's POLLYANNA being one), students had to get permission from their parents by way of a signed permission slip in order to see the film. Back in 1967, I'm sure my mother (like alot of parents) had no idea what they were signing when allowing their children to view this horrifically misguided cheap and irresponsible little film. In 1964, when this film was originally made, all public films were generally safe to view, certainly instructional and educational ones. Even the MPAA rating system for theatrical films didn't exist. Educational films were shown frequently in school, but none with the content that this one had. Up to that time, as a 7 year old, I believed the world to be a wondrous safe place and the adults in it to be generally good and kind. THIS FILM CHANGED ALL OF THAT FOREVER!
At the end of the school day and in the lunchroom auditorium, a Police Officer introduced the film prior to it being shown and set us up for what we were about to see. The movie started out harmless enough. As a 7 year old I could easily identify with the little brown haired girl that the film focuses on. I didn't however, understand why we in the audience could "hear" the strangers voice, but were never allowed to actually see him, except from the waist down. The juxtaposition back and forth between worried adults at home and the scene of the little girls being lead and stalked through the woods were unsettling. I remember the giggles from other kids in the auditorium at the moment when the busybody noisy neighbor runs out of her front door and her boobs are bopping up and down. That scene was laughed and talked about for days. If the film seemed boring in spots, the scene when the film fades to black after the little girl screams in the pipe woke me up real fast. That scene was unsettling to this 7 year old, but NOTHING could have prepared me for the crime scene footage that came afterwards. Odd, because I remember those images coming on the screen and not knowing exactly what I was looking at? It was like I had to piece that image together. Suddenly an older boy behind me said, "those are the girls". Quickly, but like in slow motion, the reality of what I was looking at set in and I became very frightened and very DISTURBED. The film ended and the Police Officer followed up with a reminder. I ran home from school as fast as I could and told my mother what I had seen. I talked and thought about nothing else for weeks. Those crime scene images would NOT LEAVE MY HEAD. I slept on the edge of my parents bed for months. I was unable to sleep alone or be in a room by myself. My mother continually reminded me the importance of "thinking nice thoughts" but to no avail.
As the months wore on I gradually got over the experience. The following year when CHILD MOLESTER was shown yet again in school, I felt prepared and was ready to see what had been lodged in my memory for over a year. After all, I was a year older now, feeling more mature and ready to to see this freak show again. "Could it have really been as horrible as I remembered" ? However, this time, unbeknown to me, my mother had given strict instructions that I was not allowed to see the crime scene footage at the end. Sitting there in anticipation of what was coming next, suddenly a teacher ushered a group of children, to which I was among, out of the auditorium. I felt cheated. That would be the last time the 16mm CHILD MOLESTER was shown in school. Too many parents protested that it was giving their children nightmares and the school quit their yearly run of it.
Over 40 years have passed since I've seen this crummy little film. For years I thought I would never see it again and now here IT IS in all it's campy and irresponsible glory. A film as bad as any film ever made, maybe even worse coming from the paranoid fear of adult filmmakers. Poorly made with narration that is both prejudice and homophobic. To a child, this film gives the impression that EVERY grown up in the world is a potential murderer and child molester. The message of this film is that NO CHILD IS SAFE and that NO ADULT can be trusted. Walk outside of your house, there will be a molester. Go to the movies, there will be a molester. Play in the school yard and there will be a molester. Your next door neighbor or anyone on the street could be a molester and THEY ARE EVERYWHERE in record numbers and parents, teachers and policemen are helpless to do anything. The burden is on the child to protect himself. CHILD MOLESTER is probably the cruelest and most irresponsible instructional film ever made. It is one thing for the producers of HIGHWAY SAFETY FILMS to show teenagers the images of mangled dismembered bodies in auto accidents and quite another to show second graders images of murdered children. It was wrong and a cruel thing to instill fear into children by this means. Shame on all of them for their so called "good intentions". They took a part of wonder that is apart of childhood and instead replaced it with fear at too early of an age. There are other ways of convening the information without scaring and traumatizing children. If I were to ever confront the producer of this film, I'd punch him right in the nose.
My rating is based on the Internet Archive giving viewers the opportunity to see this curiosity mishmash and not for the film itself, which wouldn't grant even half a star.
Reviewer: JoeyFiero - - March 6, 2008
Subject: MY VIDEO OF CHILD MOLESTER CAUGHT
I can't believe this video at the end. It breaks my heart in so many ways, I always fear from my children all the time and especially when i'm in hollywood at night with my wife there are real bad weirdos out there that just stare at children. I found this video when I was on google trying to see how far my video has gone. I have a video in which we caught a child molester on tape and reported it to the police in which they did nothing. Watch it to completely understand what i'm talking about. It's really creepy. "life as a struggling actor, episode 51".
All this makes me want to become a police officer to make a difference. I couldn't Imagen a world without my children and my family being a victim of this kind of horror, I would go crazy. I could only feel for the families who have gone through this. May god help us all...
Reviewer: larryboy27 - - December 31, 2007
Subject: About the movie
I downloaded this movie because my mother was born in 1950. She told me when she came home from school she said law enforcement and the FBI was in her backyard and all around her house. The murders happened on the other side of her backyard. The murders of the 2 little girls happened the previous year. This movie was filmed in Mansfield, Ohio at North Lake Park (Luna Park). From what I can see it was all filmed in Mansfield. The killer was captured that much I know but I do not know what happened to him. His name was Gerald Ray Howell. Any questions or comments feel free to email me and I will try to answer them as best as possible. Larryboy27@gmail.com
Reviewer: janedoe8 - - September 14, 2007
Subject: I also saw this film in first grade
This is the first time I've seen this film again since 1966 when I was a first grader. A policeman came to our school and the film was shown in the auditorium--in the morning for first through third graders, and later to fourth through sixth graders. I remember I didn't understand the word on the screen; I thought it was "monster" instead of "molester." Our group wasn't shown the crime photos; the policeman held his hand over the projector lens and I remember everyone turning around to see why we were hearing sound and not seeing anything. When my brother and I got off our school bus, he told me why the officer did that and what had been shown. Of course, I knew the girls had been killed, but I didn't connect the film with actual people; everyone knew these things happened, but this was well before made-for-TV movies and the ABC After-School Specials of the 1970s. There were books (with no graphic images), one's parents and the school systems for safety education. To this day, all those safety films (school bus, drinking and driving, etc.) have an eerie feel to me because of this one film. 1966-1967 was the only year this film was shown in our school system. As for the acting? Most of the people in 1960s and 1970s safety films were volunteers chosen from local communities. I was asked to be in one , but another state was chosen for the production.
Reviewer: du2vye - - July 12, 2007
Subject: Snuff film teaching
I imagine this film was dramatic for it's day. Shorten the film and it would still be pretty dramatic. There's no doubt that who put this film together considered the problem extremly serious and this would have been more effective than the cartoons about 'stranger danger'.
It's amazing they came right out and said parents were negligent if they didn't teach this to thier child. Pointing fingers at parents was even more taboo then. Still, this film misses the fact that most kids know their molesters (90%).
Reviewer: DOGCOW501 - - September 6, 2006
Subject: Issues with file
Will some one put a mpeg1 file up? the mpeg 4 version wont work for me unless streaming....
Reviewer: GoneTheWayOfTheDodo - - July 16, 2006
Subject: I saw this in first grade
What a trip. I remember the local police department showing this to us in elementary school - I was six. They even had a policeman introduce it. I could understand most of it and it was fairly intense but not too bad . . . until the end. The photos of those two dead girls scared me unlike anything I had ever seen. I couldn't understand exactly what I was seeing. Those images stayed with me though - until I understood. I've always felt that the school could have educated us a little more tactfully. Then again, what is the appropriate age to let kids know the real truth about life? Should things be sugar coated or explained clinically or maybe some combination of the two? Is the fact that I was never abducted proof that the films message helped me? Did the graphic nature of the last scenes affect me negatively? Who knows? I do credit my school for at least trying to keep us safe I just feel there could have been a kinder way of doing it.
Reviewer: MediaWhore - - September 8, 2005
Subject: The Real Deal
This would have been just another "Stranger Danger" run of the mill type of films if it were not for the extremly graphic footage at the end of a REAL crime scene in which the bludgened bodies of 2 young girls are shown lying dead on the floor. I can't believe they use to show this film to children. Even with todays current children being exposed to so much extreme violence and sex on TV and in the movies than kids were 50 years ago when this film was made I doubt many of their parents would allow them to be exposed to the real deal as portrayed here (even though they might not think twice about allowing them to watch an R rated shoot em up movie). In my opinion alot of us have been desensitized to violence with all of it we see on a daily basis in the media. Even CNN coverage of the current War in Iraq seems like just another outlet of entertainment for most of us who are so far removed from it. I'll even admit to being one of those people. But I'll tell you, one of the most effective things I saw that really struck a nerve in me and made me take notice of the war again as being a REAL deal was downloading and watching the beheading of an american soilder (Nick Berg I believe his name was) by the Taliban. Sorry to get a little of track there but where I am going with this is that by showing people the REAL DEAL they will stand up and take notice of something they might otherwise brush off as being something far off and removed from them.
Reviewer: Christine Hennig - - May 22, 2005
Subject: Campy and Disturbing
This early 60s scare film about child molesters starts out pretty campy. It features a guy in the park handing out jelly beans to two little girls, and then inviting them into his car for more, then driving away with them. Now I was a kid back then, and even during those times we were all taught never to take candy from strangers, so you gotta wonder about these kidsÃÂÃÂ parents. An older woman sitting on a park bench eyes the man suspiciously as he drives away with the little girls, but just when you think sheÃÂÃÂs going to write down the carÃÂÃÂs license number, she shakes her head, makes a ÃÂÃÂNaaaaahhhh!!ÃÂÃÂ face, and walks away. I mean come on people!! After that, though, it gets pretty disturbing, as we see the girls being chased through a forest by the man and eventually being caught, while back at home the police are agonizingly slow in their investigations. The eventual point is that parents should teach kids about stranger danger, which is a reasonable point to make (though because of its time, it fails to even mention the fact that most child molesters are known to their victims, rather than strangers). However, the film goes too far to my mind when it shows actual gory footage of the bodies of two little girls who were murdered by a serial killer, a hallmark of the Highway Safety Foundation, the makers of this film. ItÃÂÃÂs one thing to show gory accident victims to cocky teens who are likely to drink and drive, and another to show the bodies of children who were brutally raped and murdered to parents, who probably already have nightmares about such things. I will say, though, that the film does have an impact despite its shoddy production values and horrible acting.
Ratings: Camp/Humor Value: ****. Weirdness: ****. Historical Interest: *****. Overall Rating: ****.
Reviewer: bunner - - December 6, 2004
Subject: Dated? Perhaps. Chilling? Yes.
Having just viewed this film, it's easy to look at it - the beginning, at any rate - and find that campy, dated educational film vibe to be somewhat amusing, but this still hits home.
The clothing is dated, the scenarios are badly acted, sure, but not much less professionaly than some of the televised dramas of that era.
The ending... Well. It's graphic, ugly and factual. It's damn difficult to look at, and that, I think, is as it should be. There's a little ball of ice in the pit of my stomach that's going to take a while to warm back up to body temperature.
It may be somewhat of a period piece, but in the present day when almost all families are either fragmented, or when both parents work and children are slapped silly with the glamourisation of sexuality on a daily basis, this probably would still have merit as tool to educate kids about how to deal with creeps.
I think that it's merits as a present day educational movie may well lie in it's non-glossy, lagged pace and ghost story-like unfolding.
Reviewer: Ouisch - - September 24, 2004
Subject: Still creepy after all these years
I saw this film in school when I was in the third grade, which would've made it circa 1966/67. I recall that before it was shown to the students, it was shown at a special parents' meeting and they voted on whether or not it should be viewed by the kids.
The movie so impressed me back then that I remembered the "hop like a rooster" hopscotch song as soon as the title flashed on the screen when viewing it today. Watching it now, though, I see how stilted the acting is. The producers must've spent their whole budget on the police film footage at the end - the folks they hired to play the parents are beyond awful. As a kid, I didn't understand what a "molester" was from this movie; I thought it was simply someone who murdered children. Watching it as an adult, I see that the sexual predator angle is hinted at, but apparently not expressed clearly enough since it took me 30-odd years to grasp. Of course, this folm was made in 1964, so they could only say so much and still get past the censors.
The final scene, of course, showing the battered bodies of the actual victims, scared the beejeezus out of me in the third grade, and still made me flinch today. Considering they don't even show such graphic portrayals even on "America's Most Wanted" or "American Justice", this is pretty arresting (no pun intended) stuff.
Despite the corny dialogue and wooden performances, I'd bet that this would still be a powerful and useful film to show to kids today to warn them against getting in cars with strangers.
Reviewer: tambora - - April 30, 2004
Subject: Strangers with candy
This is a powerful and direct film, unforgettable for its eerieness, honesty, and simplicity. The acting and the technique may seem campy occasionally, but it works. The tape hiss screams for Dolby attention, and this film may actually deserve that kind of care in restoration.
It is told in two parts, the first being an unsettling story of child abduction and parental and neighborhood complacency that was only corrected after it was too late. The second part serves as a coda and explication for the first, giving direct advice to parents and making examples of the characters in the story.
Obviously, the filmmakers don't want you to take any of the this lightly. As such, the second part depicts a seedy suburb that seems to be crawling with predators on every corner. Its view is excessive, but chilling and hopefully mobilizing. It hides little when it comes to telling parents that it's their responsibility to tell their kids the sickening facts.
The ending of this film is probably why it got pulled. In a word, it's horrifying. The story of the first half seemed open-ended enough to put it out of your mind, but the filmmakers unforgettably implant the story into your mind when they tell you it was true.
And they have pictures.
Reviewer: Spuzz - - April 27, 2004
Subject: The Social Guidance film as snuff film..
First off, you have to forgive the horrible sound on this movie. If you can get past that, then The Child Molester is a MUST SEE on this site. All of you may notice that I usually save my "Must Sees" for the end, but "The Child Molester" is REALLY one of the most extraordinary films I have EVER seen.
I will begin with the acting, which mostly doesnt teeter above Ed Wood Territory. All the adults act HORRIBLY. Like my god, where do they GET these people?
A little background of the main story, 2 kids are led away by a stranger who has candy. They are taken to a secluded area, when one of the kids runs away, the stranger says "come with me or I'll kill you now!" when the stranger finds the other kid. The other kid with the stranger breaks free, while the other kid yells "save yourself!" Which is extraordinary, one kid giving up their life to save another, that REALLY caught me off guard. (The other kid does get caught too). (PS, one of the kid's parents reports to the cops with a tea cosy on her head) This all led me to believe that this film was somewhat mistitled, thinking that it should be called "The Child Murderer" as it, up to that point, didn't really mention anything about child molestation. BUT, in the final 1/4 of the film, we see some 'warning signs'... people getting to comfortable in the theater, TOTALLY obvious men in dark glasses hanging in front of schools (this guy really should have a sign around his neck saying "Dangerous" because it's so obvious).
The ending of the film really threw me for a loop. Since this is a Highway Safety Foundation Film, it would'nt end without something really GRAPHIC. And we do get it. We see police footage of a murder scene of 2 girls who were "murdered". the narrator says that this is WHAT HAPPENED TO THE 2 GIRLS WHO APPEARED IN THE FILM!! So, my goodness! It's a snuff film! Well, I hardly think the HSF would go THAT far. But that declaration was far fetched. Also, all of this crime scene footage made me confused, as the dialogue and scenarios made me believe that this was all made for 8 year olds, aka Red Light Green Light: Meeting Strangers. Seeing such a graphic scene would surely turn the kids stomachs.
Sorry for the lengthy review here, but this is an AMAZING film, one which I'm sure will cause a lot of debate, and ranks right up there with the best films I've seen on this site.
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